


Weird Town AU

by ericsonclan



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Hotels, Mystery, Weirdness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29763183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Clementine goes to a hotel for some piece and quiet to get her work done, but things are not as they appear there...
Relationships: Clementine/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Kudos: 3





	1. The Kidnapping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [daisystars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisystars/gifts).



> (by Laura)  
> Something I wrote for the ever-wonderful daisystars <3

Clementine’s fingers drummed in annoyance across her keyboard. She didn’t want to be a stick in the mud, but she  _ had  _ to get this website design finished by tomorrow and she couldn’t stay focused when her friends were all being so loud outside. She walked over to the motel window, pulling back the curtain to see what was going on. Sophie and Brody were engaged in a chicken fight with Ruby and Aasim within the swimming pool, Brody and Ruby grunting with determination as their interlocked hands worked to push the other over. Louis and Marlon were cheering from the sidelines while Violet and Mitch lay on pool chairs talking while Mitch fiddled with his sunglasses, clearly trying to look extra cool.

A knock at the door startled Clementine. She opened it to find Prisha standing there, dripping wet from the pool.

“Omar’s going to drive around as see if he can find something “suitable” for dinner. Do you want anything in particular?”

“Not really, I just-” Clementine’s shoulders seized as her phone dinged several times in a row. Those were probably from her boss, asking for project updates.

Prisha noted the reaction with concern. “Work getting to you?”

“Yeah. I just need to get this one project finished and then I’ll be free for a while, but…” Clementine shook her head. “I just can’t seem to hone in and finish it,”

“Perhaps a change of location is in order. Have you tried the motel’s lobby?”

“They don’t have wifi down there and I can’t keep using up my data,”

“Understandable. Considering the layout of the motel with all the rooms facing the pool you won’t be able to simply check into another room either,”

“Yeah, and I don’t want to tell everybody to stay quiet for the whole day. This is their vacation after all,”

Prisha pursed her lips in thought. “Have you considered staying at another hotel, just for the night until you get your work done? There was one Violet and I passed on our way here that’s just down the street and looked as though it would be quite reasonably priced,”

“That’s not a bad idea. Let me look into it. I’ll see you later, Prisha,” With that Clementine closed the door and returned to her computer, this time to investigate nearby hotels. She immediately found the hotel Prisha had mentioned: Delta-Littleton. There were rooms available and the prices were surprisingly affordable. Before finalizing a reservation, Clementine went down to the pool to let Louis know.

When she got there, Louis was in the water with Marlon, both of them splashing water back and forth at one another. They kept threatening to splash Violet as well, but so far her death glares had kept them at bay. As Louis noticed his girlfriend coming over he hopped up out of the pool, shaking the water from his dreads. “Clem! You should join us!”

“Maybe tomorrow, but for today…” Clementine sighed. “I’ve gotta finish up this project and for that I need peace and quiet,”

“Want me to tell the others to quiet down? Maybe use some persuasive force if need be?” Louis flexed one of his arms and winked.

Clementine giggled. “Nah, there’s no need to go that far. I found another nearby hotel. I’m gonna book a room for the night and keep working till dawn if I need to. Come hell or high water, I’m turning this design in on time,”

“You sure, babe? Things aren’t gonna be the same around here without you,” Louis gave Clementine puppy dog eyes, laughing as she playfully swatted his arm.

“You’ll be fine for a single day without me,”

“And a night,” Louis countered.

Clementine rolled her eyes. “And a night. But the sooner I go, the sooner I’ll be finished and can come back. So I’m heading out now. Will you tell the others?”

Louis nodded. “Don’t work yourself too hard, babe. I’ll be counting the minutes till you’re back,” He gave her a quick kiss on the lips which she leaned into and deepened with a smile.

“I’ll be back soon. Promise,” she whispered against his lips before pulling away. She headed straight back to the room from there, turning for only a moment to see Louis cannonballing back into the pool and getting both Violet and Mitch wet in the process. That was sure to lead to trouble. Hopefully nothing too crazy would happen while she was gone.

Clementine packed up her duffel bag quickly, taking only what she needed for the night. Throwing her windbreaker on, she headed over to the Delta-Littleton hotel.

\---

It was only a few minutes’ drive before she arrived. Clementine found parking easily, walking into the lobby and being immediately greeted by the woman at the front desk. Her check in was smooth and Clementine was immediately allowed to go up to her room. After getting her computer equipment set up, Clementine was back to work, clacking away at the keys as she tried to make this website the best it could possibly be before time ran out.

She didn’t take very many breaks. Water and bathroom breaks were all Clementine allowed herself as the day wore on. She found the hotel to be blissfully quiet except for the occasional odd thrumming that came through the walls. It sort of sounded like a generator, but considering she was several floors up she shouldn’t be able to hear something like that. No matter. Clementine quickly tuned it out, her mind on nothing outside of her work.

When it began to grow dark outside, Clementine remembered that she had completely blown off dinner. She didn’t have any snacks in her bag to tide her over till morning. Room service it was then. She called the front desk.

“Who is this?” a voice demanded.

“Uh, this is room 305. Is this the front desk of the Delta-Littleton?”

“Oh, yes! My sincerest apologies. How might I help you?”

_ That was weird,  _ Clementine thought but quickly shook off the thought. She order a burger and fries which were delivered to her room within 20 minutes.

The busboy was silent when Clementine opened the door, watching her.

“Uh, hi?” Clementine gave a small wave.

“Your order,” the man said simply, not taking his eyes off of her,”

Clementine rolled the cart into the room herself, quickly locking the door behind her.  _ The night staff here are super odd. Wonder how they got hired. _

After eating her dinner, Clementine reached for her phone to send a quick text to Louis and give him an update.  _ Huh. No signal. But their wi-fi works just fine. What’s with that?  _ Oh well. Louis knew where she was. He could wait to hear from her till the morning. Besides, he’d probably put her on speakerphone and hearing everyone else in the background having fun would just bum her out. Cracking her knuckles, Clementine settled back down to work.

It was well past midnight when Clementine finally put the finishing touches on her project. Her mind felt hazy as she looked over everything one last time for any possible mistakes. Everything looked good. After sending the project to her boss, Clementine closed her laptop with a decisive thud then leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms far above her head, not bothering to stifle her yawn. She looked around the room, feeling a twinge of sadness for a moment. Part of her wanted to get in her car, drive straight back to the motel and crawl in bed next to Louis. On the other hand, it could be that everybody was still up and in a partying mood meaning she’d get no sleep at all if she headed back now. Better to take advantage of the room she paid for and get a good night’s sleep. Clementine slipped under the covers with a blissful sigh, thankful that project was finally behind her. Tomorrow she’d be totally free to do whatever she wanted. Nestling her head on the double-stacked pillows, Clementine fell asleep within minutes.

It was much to her annoyance when she was awakened a few minutes later by the same incessant thrumming that had been present throughout the day. This time though, the pitch and frequency of the thrumming was higher. She almost felt as though she could feel it reverberating through her as she lay in bed. Curious, Clementine placed a hand against the wall. The walls were literally vibrating with whatever was making this sound.

_ This is ridiculous.  _ Clementine reached for the phone beside her bed to call the front desk to complain. The line simply gave a busy signal though, refusing to operate no matter what buttons she pressed or how many times she hung up and restarted. Placing down the phone with an exasperated sigh, Clementine slipped out of bed and toward the front door, pocketing her key card and slipping on her shoes before stepping out. Perhaps she could find the source of this noise and put an end to it herself. She at least had to know what it was.

Roaming the hall quietly, Clementine made her way to the elevator only to find that it wasn’t operational.  _ It was working this morning. I swear, this hotel gets weirder and weirder with every passing minute.  _ Suddenly, Clementine heard a door open from down the hall. She instinctively hid, pressing herself flat against the wall and concealing herself behind a decorative potted plant. A series of footsteps sounded against the floor, passing Clementine and heading for the stairs. The door to the stairwell opened with an irksome creak before closing behind them.

Clementine emerged from her hiding place and looked towards the stairs. There was a risk of getting caught, but those stairs were the only way she’d ever get closer to answers. She snuck down the rest of the hallway quickly, keeping her eyes and ears open for anyone approaching. The clock in her room had said 2:46 AM before she left. There was no way anyone would be out at this hour, especially in a group, unless they were trying to hide something. What exactly it was Clementine couldn’t begin to imagine.

She practically flew down the stairs, Clementine’s heart racing as she tried to keep her steps as quiet as possible. There was no place to hide on the stairwell. Thankfully she descended the three flights quickly, emerging from the first-floor stairwell door that was mercifully quieter than the third. Clementine was sure of one thing: she’d been right about the location of the thrumming. It was coming from below the hotel.

It took several minutes to locate the door that led down to the basement. Clementine had to sneak into a staff only area, ducking behind the counter and down a corridor before finding what she was searching for. The noise was downright loud at this point, the door seeming to do nothing to insulate the sound. As Clementine’s hands gripped the doorknob she could feel it rattling within her hand.

“It’s mighty impolite to go snooping in places you don’t belong,” a voice came from behind her.

Clementine sprung around to see a gangly man with crooked teeth sneering at her. His different colored eyes were illuminated by the glow of his cigarette. Clementine could just make out the name “Abel” printed upon the nametag on his grey hotel uniform.

“I figure smoking indoors goes against hotel policy too,” Clementine shot back.

“Fair enough,” Abel chuckled. He dropped his cigarette to the floor and stamped it out. “You caught me, but the more important thing here is I caught you,” His eyes had a dangerous gleam to them.

Clementine immediately sprinted down the hallway. Whatever she’d gotten herself into, this man’s presence told her it was far worse than she expected. Reaching the front desk, Clementine vaulted over it only to feel her heart sink in horror as one of her ankles was grasped. She hit her head hard against the corner of the desk as she was pulled back and thrown to the floor.

“Now tell me, what exactly were you hoping to find back there?” Abel growled.

“Nothing. I just wanted to know what was so fucking loud at this hour of the night,”

Abel seemed unconvinced by her words. He drew back his foot, preparing to kick her in the gut.

Clementine rolled away in the nick of time, quickly crawling toward the lobby. She could taste blood on her lip from her head wound. She felt woozy, but she couldn’t give up now.

“Get back here, you bitch!” Abel cried. He grabbed Clementine by the collar of her nightshirt, throwing her hard against the wall. Clementine gasped as the air was knocked out of her. Abel swung at her, planning to knock her out.

Clementine ducked which sent Abel’s hand crashing directly into a display glass, shredding it badly. As Abel cried out in pain, Clementine grabbed him by the shoulder and kneed him directly in the nuts. He fell to his knees only to look up and see Clementine’s foot heading directly for his face. His nose gave a sickening crunch before Clementine kicked him again, this time knocking him out cold.

Her breathing was shaky at Clementine looked down at the unconscious man before her.  _ What the hell have I gotten myself into? I need to grab my stuff and run.  _ Suddenly something hit the back of Clementine’s head hard. She fell to the floor with a pained cry that was cut short by a boot placed firmly upon her neck. Her head was throbbing. What was going on.

“Looks like Abel couldn’t handle a simple cleanup after all,” a female voice spoke from above her. “Doesn’t matter though – you belong to Delta now,”

Clementine’s head was hit once more, harder than ever. Her vision became blurry, fading into blackness before she could do anything to stop it.


	2. Something Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis grows worried when he doesn't hear back from Clementine.

Louis looked at the messages on his phone worriedly. The last twenty had been sent by him. Clementine hadn’t responded to a single one. He’d tried to restrain himself throughout the day since he knew she was working, sending only the occasional message letting her know he was cheering her on and that she was going to rock this project. When she didn’t reply to them, Louis figured she was too deep into the project to notice and called it a night. It wasn’t until the next morning when he woke up late and she still hadn’t returned that Louis began to truly feel worried.

His fingers played with the tassels on his bracelet as he held the phone to his ear. The metal charms, a music note and the letter C, clinked together, reminding Louis of the matching bracelet he’d given to Clementine. When the phone went to voice mail for a third time, Louis felt his heart twist deep inside. He decided to leave a message this time. “Hey, Clem, it’s your boyfriend. Louis. Remember me? I’m just out here chilling by the pool, wondering when you’re gonna make it back. Y’know, I bet that website you’ve been working on must look damn near perfect by now. No point losing any more sleep over it. Maybe you zonked over your laptop and I’m just being weird leaving you this message. Anyway, I love you. Come back soon. Bye,”

As soon as he’d hung up, Louis didn’t quite know what to do with himself. He’d expected Clementine to be home by now. His fingers drummed against his chest, absent-mindedly playing with the music note embroidery on his overalls. Even when Clementine was busy with a project, she never kept quiet for this long. He’d blown off last night’s silence as an anomaly, but now he couldn’t help feeling that something was wrong. He had to drive over there and check on her. But Clementine had the car.

Louis made his way over to Prisha and Violet who were chatting together while lounging on some of the pool chairs. “Hey, Prisha?”

Prisha paused her conversation to look up at him. “Yes?”

“Do you know where that hotel is that Clem stayed at for the night?”

Prisha nodded. “It’s not far from here at all. Why?”

“Well, Clem hasn’t texted me back since she went over there. Not  _ once _ . That’s werid for her,”

“She did seem terribly pressed to meet her deadline. Wouldn’t it be possible she simply silenced her phone?”

Louis shook his head, biting his lower lip. “Even if she had done that, she’d have texted me this morning to let me know she’d be coming back late. Besides, isn’t checkout for most hotels at noon? It’s already nearly eleven,”

“She could be sleeping in. We all know how much Clementine likes to do that,”

Prisha wasn’t listening. Louis turned his eyes to Violet, silently pleading for her to believe him that something was wrong here.

Violet studied his expression for a second before turning to her girlfriend. “There wouldn’t be anything wrong with heading over there to surprise her. Besides, we could pick up lunch for everybody while we’re out,”

“Alright then,” Prisha shrugged. “We’ll go get changed and grab the keys. Louis, can you get everyone’s lunch orders?”

Louis nodded. He had a ride. They’d track down Clementine at the hotel and everything would be alright. His thumb brushed against the C charm on his bracelet. He’d see her soon.

The trio headed over to the hotel shortly afterward, keeping mostly quiet on the short drive over. Violet looked at Louis’ reflection in the rear-view mirror with concern. It was unlike him to be quiet like this. He must be really worried about Clementine. The Delta-Littleton looked quite nice as they pulled into the nearest parking space. Walking in, the three found themselves almost immediately greeted by a porter.

“Do you have any bags in the car you’d like me to bring in?” the man asked with a friendly smile.

Prisha raised a hand dismissively. “Not today, thank you. We won’t be saying,” She led the way to the front desk where a young woman was busy talking on the phone. After a few moments she turned to address them.

“My apologies for the wait. How can I help you today?”

“Hi,” Louis summoned his friendliest smile. “We’re here to surprise my girlfriend. She’s been working hard on a project for work and we wanted to take her out for brunch. Could you tell us what room she’s in?”

“I’m sorry, but that would go against hotel policy. Could you tell me the name of your girlfriend? I could call her room and let her know you’ve arrived.

“Yes, it’s-” Louis paused as he felt Prisha grip his wrist. He looked over at his friend in confusion.

Prisha smiled at the receptionist. “So sorry, it looks like there’s been a mixup. We’ll text our friend as sort it out,” With that she pulled Louis away from the counter, leading him and Violet over to the seating area of the lobby.

“What was that about?” Louis asked, his brow furrowed.

Prisha opened her hand, revealing a metal charm in the shape of the letter L. “This was on the floor near the reception desk.

Louis recognized it as the one from Clementine’s bracelet. He took it in his hand, running his fingers along its edges.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Violet pointed out, her arms crossed.

“True, but the next thing I found was far more concerning,” Prisha held out her other hand for the two of them to see. It was covered in dry red flecks. “This was on the edge of the counter,”

“Is it…” Louis asked, too afraid to finish the sentence.

“I believe it’s blood. We need to call the others. We’ll need all hands on deck to help us figure out what’s happened,” Prisha pulled out her phone, dialing a number. “Hello, Aasim? How many people can you fit in your car?”

The rest of the gang was informed quickly of the situation at hand and had arrived at the scene within minutes. Prisha and Violet stepped outside to update the others while Marlon and Mitch came inside, their expressions grim.

“What the shit, man?” Mitch hissed, his eyes scanning the room with suspicion. “Are we really thinking something happened to Clem here?”

“I-I’m not sure,” Louis replied. He wet his lips nervously, looking over at Marlon. “There are too many weird things going on for us to brush aside though. The unanswered texts, the bracelet, the-” he choked on the word ‘blood’ before he could get it out.

Marlon put a hand on his shoulder, gripping it tightly. “Don’t worry, Lou. Clem’s smart. She can handle herself,”

“I know, but we have no idea what’s going on here, no clue of where we’re even supposed to look,”

Their phones dinged, distracting the three boys. They opened their texts to see the same message from Aasim.  _ We agreed it would be best to split up to avoid suspicion. Head deeper inside the hotel. We’ll be in shortly. _

Louis let his phone fall to his side with an angry sigh. This was ridiculous. Were they really going into this assuming that Clementine had been kidnapped? If they could only find her room number… but they shouldn’t let the hotel staff know who they were looking for.  _ Wait, that’s it! _ Louis raised his phone again, his eyes quickly scanning his apps.  _ There!  _ His father had given him and Clementine a beta version of his company’s new Find My Phone app. It was supposed to be more accurate than ever. Would he be able to use this to track Clementine?

Marlon looked over his shoulder in curiosity. “What’s that?”

“Maybe the answer to all our problems. Follow me,”

The app seemed to be as accurate as the test pitch had claimed. It marked Clementine’s phone in a room on the third floor. The three boys entered the elevator together, impatiently waiting to reach the appropriate floor before following the app to the door the phone lay behind: room 305. The door appeared to use a keycard system.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this. Just make sure no one’s watching,” Mitch said, stepping forward. Pulling out his Swiss army knife, he used the miniature screwdriver to undo the front panel on the doorknob while Louis and Maron stood back to back, trying to block as much of Mitch as possible. After a few minutes the door beeped and Mitch pushed it open with a triumphant chuckle.

Louis rushed into the room, immediately recognizing Clementine’s jacket draped upon the back of the desk chair. The room was clearly empty. “This is her room. But she’s not…” his voice cracked, “She’s not here,”

“We’ll search the room for clues,” Marlon declared, stepping forward and lifting the pillows off the bed.

After searching the room for a few minutes, they were coming up empty. Louis could feel the panic rising within him. “There’s nothing,”

Marlon’s brow furrowed in thought. “Well, maybe it’s not what’s here but what’s missing that matters,”

“Like Clem?”

“Louis,”

“Not helping, I know,” Louis tried to take deep, slow breaths to calm his heartrate down. He’d be no use at all like this.

Mitch snapped his fingers in realization. “Her shoes! They’re not here,”

“She must have put them on before stepping out,” Marlon noted. “There’s no signs of a struggle either, so she wasn’t taken from here by force,”

Louis gestured toward the armchair. “Her clothes from yesterday are still here though. I don’t know if she brought a change of clothes. Does that mean…” his eyes widened. “Did Clem get taken last night? She was kidnapped and I was just  _ sleeping? _ ”

“Lou, calm down,” Marlon instructed, gripping his best friend’s shoulders. “We’ve pieced together some clues. We’re that much closer to finding Clem,”

“I’m sending an update,” Mitch said, typing on his phone. “Sophie, Brody and Omar are nearby. They’re gonna drop by the room to grab Clem’s stuff and take it back to the car in case her laptop has any info on it that might help us find her,” Just as he’d finished speaking, their phones dinged again. This time the message was from Violet.

_ Prisha and Aasim noticed that there’s some sort of weird thrumming coming from downstairs, maybe the basement. We’re going to check it out. We could use backup. _

Louis’ grip tightened on his phone. A basement would be the perfect place to hold her. “Let’s go!”

They hurried down the hallway, running into Sophie, Brody and Omar in the hallway. After going over their respective plans, the boys headed down in the elevator. Their phones dinged again. Violet again.

_ Looks like the entrance to the basement is behind reception. We’ll need a distraction to get back there.  _ Almost immediately there was an answer from Brody.

_ We can pull the fire alarm on our way out to the car. Should buy you guys a few seconds. _

They had a plan. Now all that remained was to put it in action. Louis, Marlon and Mitch made their way out of the elevator, spotting Prisha, Violet, Ruby and Aasim standing near reception, looking busy on their phones. The boys tried to look occupied as well, scrolling mindlessly through their phones as they waited for the signal. In their peripheral vision they could see Brody, Sophie and Omar walking through the lobby. Only a few moments later the fire alarm sounded. They rushed forward, both groups slipping behind the reception desk as all other guests were directed to evacuate the building. Out of the corner of his eye, Louis saw Brody give a quick salute before scurrying out of the building, holding Sophie’s hand.

Once all seven of them were through they closed the door behind them. None of the staff seemed to have noticed their entry. The hallway curved off to the right with a single door visible against the wall in front of them. The thrumming was more pronounced in here, clearly coming from something behind that door. The group looked amongst themselves. It was clear they should split up again to cover more ground.

“We’ll take the basement,” Prisha offered.

Aasim nodded. “It’s less likely they’d keep her beside whatever equipment is down there, but we have to be sure,”

Louis didn’t wait for further confirmation. He strode down the hallway, flanked on either side by Marlon and Mitch. It didn’t go back very far. The few doors along the way were narrow and small, looking to be janitorial closets. The door at the end of the hallway held their attention. When Louis grasped the handle, it stuck in his grasp. Locked.

“Fuck,” Louis swore, stepping back from the door. He was revving up to throw his shoulder against it when Mitch caught him and set him back down.

“Not like that, dumbass. You’ll wreck your fucking shoulder. You gotta kick right by the lock where the wood is weakest,” Mitch raised his leg, driving the heel of his foot against the door. It didn’t budge. “Shit, this isn’t some cheap ass pressed wood. This is gonna take some work,” He rammed his heel against the door again.

“Wait, do you guys hear that?” Marlon asked. They paused, leaning towards the door. They could hear muffled yelling from inside.

“Clem!” Louis cried. Summoning all his strength, he kicked the door right where Mitch had. “Clem, we’re coming! Hold on!”

The boys took turns kicking the door, alternating between the three of them. Within a few minutes the door began to groan under their attacks. They were doing it. A few more well-placed kicks and it slammed open, showing them a mostly empty room with one chair in the center. Clementine was tied to it, bound and gagged, the right side of her face caked in dried blood.

“Clem!” Louis ran forward, immediately undoing the gag. “You’re hurt! We came as soon as we thought something was wrong. I should’ve known sooner. Stupid, stupid…”

“Louis, thank God!” Clementine exclaimed, looking up at him before spotting Marlon and Mitch. You guys need to hurry though. She’s supposed to be back any minute,”

“Who’s coming back?” Marlon asked, kneeling down to help Louis undo her arms while Mitch worked on her legs.

Clementine’s expression and tone were grim. “Lilly,”


End file.
